- Morning Chalk Up
- Posts
- Sophomores Shine at the 2025 CrossFit Games
Sophomores Shine at the 2025 CrossFit Games
POWERED BY
Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.
In today’s edition:
💪 From rookie nerves to podium contenders – 2025 CrossFit Games sophomore standouts.
🧗 Master some of the Games’ toughest gymnastics skills.
🔈 New Not For Time episode, featuring Strongman Rob Kearney!
📈 Behind the scenes with ATA’s Alec Zirkenbach on the future of adaptive competition.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Designing adaptive classification systems is one of the most difficult, and often thankless, jobs in inclusive sport.”
CROSSFIT GAMES
Sophomore Surge – The Second-Year Athletes Who Lit Up Albany
Credit: Scott Freymond
Every year at the CrossFit Games, we tend to spotlight the rookies – the newcomers who turn heads with breakout performances and fresh potential – and the veterans vying for the podium.
But what about the sophomores? The second-year athletes who return, not just to participate this time around, but with expectations.
In Albany, NY, at the 2025 CrossFit Games, the sophomores didn’t just show up; they showed up with newfound confidence and proved they belong.
Remind Me: Seventeen sophomores took the floor at the 2025 CrossFit Games, and 14 of them improved on their rookie finishes.
Two – Lucy Campbell and Olivia Kerstetter – stood on the podium, while Austin Hatfield finished fifth on the men’s side, and Aimee Cringle and Tudor Magda logged top 10 finishes.
Sophomore Class of 2025
Athlete | Rookie Finish (Year) | Sophomore Finish (2025) |
Lucy Campbell | 16th (2022) | second |
Olivia Kerstetter | 16th (2023) | third |
Austin Hatfield | 10th (2024) | fifth |
Aimee Cringle | 13th (2024) | eighth |
Tudor Magda | 34th (2022) | 10th |
Harry Lightfoot | 21st (2024) | 11th |
Chris Ibarra | 19th (2024) | 13th |
Claudia Gluck | 12th (2024) | 14th |
Grace Walton | 14th (2024) | 15th |
Calum Clements | 20th (2024) | 16th |
Jack Rozema | 25th (2024) | 18th |
Lexi Neely | 26th (2024) | 18th |
Enrico Zenoni | 29th (2022) | 22nd |
Hattie Kanyo | 18th (2024) | 23rd |
Peter Ellis | 31st (2024) | 28th |
Mariana Camila Quintero | 60th (2019) | 28th |
Emily de Rooy | 40th (2023) | 29th |
A MESSAGE FROM BUTCHERBOX
Get Cooking - It's Free Meat Season
Butcher Box is helping you stock your freezer for the year with deals you're not going to want to miss.
Join the club to receive high-quality, humanely raised meat delivered directly to your door. Plus, shipping is always free.
Your Choice, Free for a Year:
🥩Sirloin: 4 x 6 oz 100% grass-fed & finished Top Sirloin Steaks FREE in every order for a year - $712 value.
🐟Salmon: 2 lbs of wild-caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon FREE in every order for a year - $844 value.
🐓Chicken Thighs: 3 pounds of free-range organic Bone-In Chicken Thighs FREE in every order for a year - $474 value.
🐄Ground Beef: 2 lbs of 100% grass-fed and finished ground beef FREE in every order for a year - $368 value.
This offer is for a limited time, so act fast! Join over 400,000 satisfied members who trust ButcherBox for unbeatable quality and value.
*This newsletter relies on our sponsors. Please consider supporting them.
SPEED READS
🏆🎯 Games Takeaways: Dave Castro’s latest Week in Review breaks down his favorite 2025 Games moment (“IE09: Running Isabel”), hints the 30-athlete field could stay, confirms Rogue rowers are comp-legal, and teases a launch for the new CF-L4 coaching path later this year.
🏅🌎 CrossFit’s Force Multiplier: The Coach – Nicole Carroll explains how great CrossFit coaches turn classes into life-changing experiences by caring, contextualizing, and delivering results — making the magic happen.
🚀❌ CrossFit is the Cure: The world promises shortcuts, but real health takes work. CrossFit strips it back to what matters — train hard, eat right, push your limits, and do it alongside people who care. This is the cure — check out CrossFit’s new marketing materials and assets for affiliate owners here.
💥📉 Why Less Volume Might Be More: This BarBend deep dive reveals that more training volume doesn’t always lead to greater gains—a recent 12-week study found only slight differences, suggesting that smarter scaling can be your real strength secret.
🏋️♂️🔥 Clean & Jerk, Unlocked: In this WODprep Camp special, expert coaches break down setup, bar path, timing, footwork, and the jerk so you can lift heavier with better form. Whether chasing a PR or building confidence, these cues will level up your Olympic lifts.
ICYMI: 🏆 Inside the training camps that owned the 2025 Games.
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
The Top Gymnastics Skills of the 2025 Games and How to Develop Them
Credit: Scott Freymond
If you watched the 2025 CrossFit Games in Albany, NY, I hope you were as impressed with the overall programming as I was.
But more importantly, I want to focus on the gymnastics portion and help you work toward improving your skills in my top three favorites from the weekend.
We saw many gymnastics elements, which is never a surprise, as gymnastics skills are among the foundational aspects of CrossFit.
Gymnastics tests an athlete's coordination, balance, agility, accuracy, and spatial awareness.
Those who have built a foundation of flexibility consistently perform these skills with technical excellence.
Here are the gymnastics skills that showed up in the 2025 CrossFit Games:
Double-under cross-overs
Toes-to-bar
Pegboard ascents
Handstand walk
Chest to bar pull-ups
Bar muscle-ups
Deficit handstand push-ups
Rope climbs
Now, let’s focus on my three favorite skills from the Games, so I can help you improve your technique and capacity.
PODCAST
Not For Time Podcast Episode 5, Live Now!
COMPETITIONS
Behind the Rapid Rise of Adaptive Fitness: An Interview with Adaptive Training Academy’s Alec Zirkenbach
Credit: @adaptivetraining / Instagram
Adaptive fitness isn't new, but it has gained popularity as events like HYROX and Spartan have gained traction.
However, with this growth comes questions such as: Who determines the adaptive division classifications? How do these events ensure fairness?
The quick rise of adaptive athlete participation in competitions has brought these questions to the forefront.
We interviewed Alec Zirkenbach, the board president of the Adaptive Training Academy (ATA), to gain a deeper understanding of how the adaptive fitness landscape is evolving and the importance of accurate classification.
The ATA offers adaptive fitness training and was established in 2012.
Remind me: The first time the adaptive division was introduced to the CrossFit season was in 2021. Three divisions were invited to compete at the CrossFit Games that year, and a total of 16 divisions competed in the Open.
In that first year, the version of the classification rulebook was based on a self-selection model, where athletes chose their own divisions using broad guidance.
HIGHLIGHTS
Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.
💕Happy anniversary to Scott and Christin Panchik.
Check out this 265-pound snatch from Games veteran Travis Mayer.
🔥Watch what training looks like for Teenage CrossFit Games competitor Dennis Olsson. T-minus eight days!
Congratulations to Maya on both her snatch and clean and jerk PRs, all in the same day.
Check out these pistol squat variations. 😳How many of them can you do?
SIGN UP
|
